Chesapeake Bay Foundation history

Early in 1970, with membership at 2,000 and a staff of three, Arthur Sherwood took over as Executive Director and settled on two programs, Environmental Education and Resource Protection, with land conservation an integral part of the protection effort.

The first 20 words of the 1972 Clean Water Act are straightforward and completely impossible to misinterpret: "The objective of this Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters."

Sherwood had a simple but powerful vision for the program: "The place to teach people about the Bay is on it and in it." He put this vision into action in 1973 with the acquisition of a 44-foot workboat and the environmental education center on Meredith Creek near Annapolis that now bears his name.

Something else happened in 1976 that would have profound implications for the future of the Chesapeake.

The late 1980's and early 90's saw more expansion in the Education Program, with a canoe fleet operating in Pennsylvania and the acquisition of Port Isobel Island near Tangier, VA. Participation in the program reached 35,000 people per year.

CBF established a small office in Richmond and began running school trips with a fleet of canoes on Virginia waterways in 1981.

In 1983, EPA issued its report on the Bay Study, documenting systemic declines around the Chesapeake.

In 1985, the Virginia General Assembly provided a contract for partial funding of CBF's Education Program in Virginia, allowing the Foundation to expand its reach into literally every tidal river in the Bay system.

With Pennsylvania established as a full partner in the Bay cleanup, CBF in 1986 established an office in Harrisburg.

Partners reaffirm the 1987 Agreement.

In 1990, Sumner Pingree took over the Board Chairmanship from Godfrey Rockefeller.

In amendments added in 1992, Bay Program partners agreed to attack nutrients at the source: upstream in the Bay's rivers.

The planning resulted in development in 1996 of nine indicator benchmarks for Bay restoration over the next 10-20 years.

Chesapeake 2000 established 102 goals to reduce pollution, restore habitats, protect living resources, promote sound land use practices and engage the public in Bay restoration.

In 2009, President Obama issued an executive order (EO 13508) that called on the federal government to renew the effort to protect and restore the watershed.

In 2010, the EPA established the landmark Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). The Chesapeake Bay TMDL is a federal “pollution diet” that sets limits on the amount of nutrients and sediment that can enter the Bay and its tidal rivers to meet water quality goals.

In a unanimous decision, the Third Circuit affirmed the September 2013 District court ruling upholding EPA's TMDL pollution allocations for the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2014, Chesapeake Bay Program partners incorporated the TMDL into the goals of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

The video above was produced for CBF's 5oth Anniversary in 2017.

CBF issues its 2019 State of the Blueprint report.

© 2021 Chesapeake Bay Foundation